NYAB Event - Hisao Hanafusa "Uchuiden"

Hisao Hanafusa "Uchuiden"

Gary Snyder Project Space

This event has ended.

Gary Snyder Project Space presents an exhibition of seven works of art by Hisao Hanafusa created between 1963 and 1970. Rooted in a minimalist tradition, and partaking of an aesthetic celebrated in the 1966 “Systemic Painting” show at the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum, the works exhibited remind us of Donald Judd’s statement, in 1965, that “half or more of the best new work in recent years has been neither painting nor sculpture.” Carter Ratcliff, in the essay that accompanies the 32 page exhibition catalogue, writes:

"[Hanafusa] developed a series of works that solidify [his] place in the New York art world of the period. Made during 1967–70, they elaborate the possibilities of horizontal line—or, to be more specific, horizontal patterns of tubing. In Yellow I, the silverish tubes are separated by strips of canvas that are themselves tubular—or, at any rate, are curved in a way that suggests the presence of tubes beneath the canvas. So the central zone of this work is occupied by not only an alternation of silver and yellow. There is an alternation, as well, of visible and invisible, and we are drawn into speculations about the underlying structure of the object."

Born in Miyakonojo, a city at the southernmost tip of Japan, Hanafusa studied at Kyoto University of Fine Arts. After solo and group exhibitions in Japan, he settled in New York in 1963. He had a one-person show at Stable Gallery in 1969, and was included in four group exhibitions at the Guggenheim Museum in the 1970s and 1980s.

In more recent years, Hisao Hanafusa is recognized as one of the pre-eminent traditional Japanese furniture makers in the world. His furniture store, Miya Shoji, formerly on 17th Street and now at 145 West 26th Street, presents one-of-a kind furniture from selected woods that are aged over ten years. The furniture is made with hand-forged precision tools of traditional Japanese design, including one-hand pull saws and chisels, and almost all the pieces are composed of interlocking wood with hand-crafted joints. The gallery exhibition will feature one of Hanafusa’s long benches, made out of a piece of 150 year old Zelkova, or, in Japanese, Keyaki.

In a statement for the catalogue, the artist writes about the title of the show, “Uchuiden”:

"I believe that all humans have uchuiden or 'universal memory.' If we access our uchuiden, then we can express it through art, music, and other forms of creativity. Discovering one’s uchuiden is a journey that anyone can make. My work is an exploration of the mysteries of my own "uchuiden"."

The exhibition is accompanied by a 32 page fully illustrated catalogue with an essay by Carter Ratcliff.

Media

• Painting
• Sculpture

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